Search results for "Biomedical engineering"
showing 10 items of 2020 documents
Thermographic quantitative variables for diabetic foot assessment: preliminary results
2018
The aim of this study was to define aspects of a protocol for a diabetic population by obtaining and evaluating thermographic images following thermal stress (cooling of the sole of the foot with c...
Correlative Raman-Electron-Light (CREL) Microscopy Analysis of Lipid Droplets in Melanoma Cancer Stem Cells.
2022
Among all neoplasms, melanoma is characterized by a very high percentage of cancer stem cells (CSCs). Several markers have been proposed for their identification, and lipid droplets (LDs) are among them. Different techniques are used for their characterization such as mass spectrometry, imaging techniques, and vibrational spectroscopies. Some emerging experimental approaches for the study of LDs are represented by correlative light–electron microscopy and by correlative Raman imaging–scanning electron microscopy (SEM). Based on these scientific approaches, we developed a novel methodology (CREL) by combining Raman micro-spectroscopy, confocal fluorescence microscopy, and SEM coupled with an…
Preservation of the soft protein corona in distinct flow allows identification of weakly bound proteins.
2018
Abstract Nanocarriers that are used for targeted drug delivery come in contact with biological liquids and subsequently proteins will adsorb to the nanocarriers’ surface to form the so called ‘protein corona’. The protein corona defines the biological identity and determines the biological response towards the nanocarriers in the body. To make nanomedicine safe and reliable it is required to get a better insight into this protein corona and, therefore, the adsorbed proteins have to be characterized. Currently, centrifugation is the common method to isolate the protein corona for further investigations. However, with this method it is only possible to investigate the strongly bound proteins,…
Aligned microcontact printing of biomolecules on microelectronic device surfaces
2001
Microcontact printing (/spl mu/CP) of extracellular matrix proteins is a fascinating approach to control cell positioning and outgrowth, which is essential in the development of applications ranging from cellular biosensors to tissue engineering. Microelectronic devices can be used to detect the activity from a large number of recording sites over the long term. However, signals from cells can only be recorded at small sensitive spots. Here, the authors present an innovative setup to perform aligned /spl mu/CP of extracellular matrix proteins on microelectronic devices in order to guide the growth of electrogenic cells specifically to these sensitive spots. The authors' system is based on t…
Systems level approach reveals the correlation of endoderm differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells with specific microstructural cues of fibrin…
2014
Stem cells receive numerous cues from their associated substrate that help to govern their behaviour. However, identification of influential substrate characteristics poses difficulties because of their complex nature. In this study, we developed an integrated experimental and systems level modelling approach to investigate and identify specific substrate features influencing differentiation of mouse embryonic stem cells (mESCs) on a model fibrous substrate, fibrin. We synthesized a range of fibrin gels by varying fibrinogen and thrombin concentrations, which led to a range of substrate stiffness and microstructure. mESCs were cultured on each of these gels, and characterization of the diff…
Finite element analysis of a Bionate ring-shaped customized lumbar disc nucleus prosthesis
2021
[EN] Study design: Biomechanical study of a nucleus replacement with a finite element model. Objective: To validate a Bionate 80A ring-shaped nucleus replacement. Methods: The ANSYS lumbar spine model made from lumbar spine X-rays and magnetic resonance images obtained from cadaveric spine specimens were used. All materials were assumed homogeneous, isotropic, and linearly elastic. We studied three options: intact spine, nucleotomy, and nucleus implant. Two loading conditions were evaluated at L-3-L-4, L-4-L-5, and L-5-S-1 discs: a 1000 N axial compression load and this load after the addition of 8 Nm flexion moment in the sagittal plane plus 8 Nm axial rotation torque. Results: Maximum nuc…
Chronic neural probe for simultaneous recording of single-unit, multi-unit, and local field potential activity from multiple brain sites
2017
Drug resistant focal epilepsy can be treated by resecting the epileptic focus requiring a precise focus localisation using stereoelectroencephalography (SEEG) probes. As commercial SEEG probes offer only a limited spatial resolution, probes of higher channel count and design freedom enabling the incorporation of macro and microelectrodes would help increasing spatial resolution and thus open new perspectives for investigating mechanisms underlying focal epilepsy and its treatment. This work describes a new fabrication process for SEEG probes with materials and dimensions similar to clinical probes enabling recording single neuron activity at high spatial resolution.Polyimide is used as a bi…
Modular Small Diameter Vascular Grafts with Bioactive Functionalities.
2015
We report the fabrication of a novel type of artificial small diameter blood vessels, termed biomimetic tissue-engineered blood vessels (bTEBV), with a modular composition. They are composed of a hydrogel scaffold consisting of two negatively charged natural polymers, alginate and a modified chitosan, N,O-carboxymethyl chitosan (N,O-CMC). Into this biologically inert scaffold two biofunctionally active biopolymers are embedded, inorganic polyphosphate (polyP) and silica, as well as gelatin which exposes the cell recognition signal, Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD). These materials can be hardened by exposure to Ca(2+) through formation of Ca(2+) bridges between the polyanions, alginate, N,O-CMC, and polyP…
Biomimetic strategy towards gelatin coatings on PET. Effect of protocol on coating stability and cell-interactive properties
2019
Gelatin-modified poly(ethylene terephthalate) (PET) surfaces have been previously realized via an intermediate dopamine coating procedure that resulted in surfaces with superior haemocompatibility compared to unfunctionalized PET. The present study addresses the biocompatibility assessment of these coated PET surfaces. In this context, the stability of the gelatin coating upon exposure to physiological conditions and its cell-interactive properties were investigated. The proposed gelatin–dopamine-PET surfaces showed an increased protein coating stability up to 24 days and promoted the attachment and spreading of both endothelial cells (ECs) and smooth muscle cells (SMCs). In parallel, physi…
Engineering a morphogenetically active hydrogel for bioprinting of bioartificial tissue derived from human osteoblast-like SaOS-2 cells.
2014
Abstract Sodium alginate hydrogel, stabilized with gelatin, is a suitable, biologically inert matrix that can be used for encapsulating and 3D bioprinting of bone-related SaOS-2 cells. However, the cells, embedded in this matrix, remain in a non-proliferating state. Here we show that addition of an overlay onto the bioprinted alginate/gelatine/SaOS-2 cell scaffold, consisting of agarose and the calcium salt of polyphosphate [polyP·Ca 2+ -complex], resulted in a marked increase in cell proliferation . In the presence of 100 μ m polyP·Ca2+ -complex, the cells proliferate with a generation time of approximately 47–55 h. In addition, the hardness of the alginate/gelatin hydrogel substantially i…